L&S Unscripted

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Green Conference hosted by Ad Age in NYC. It was a treat to hear CMOs from majors including McDonald’s, Conservation International, Burt’s Bees and Patagonia share their perspective on environmental marketing. A few snippits:

- Don’t wait until you are doing all you could to share about your organization’s successes in green; Celebrate and communicate your small successes.

- Perfection is not the goal; it’s more about encouraging progress and improvement; Simple changes make a difference.

- “Responsible consumption” is a term or idea consumers seem to grasp and are not intimidated by;  Encourage quality vs. quantity, refills, upgrades, etc.

- Keep to your own brand’s style and personality when tackling environmental innovation and communication. i.e. McDonald’s ties in movies like Saigon Panda in their Happy Meals and web applications designed to show kids and families the importance of preservation and enviro-responsibility because they are about kids and families.

- “Green fatigue” is real these days- consumers have seen enough of the expected babies, earth and flower images; instead communicate primary benefits. i.e. Yes, the Toyota Prius is better for the earth, but the primary benefit is that it’s a quiet ride and provides fuel economy.

I have a thousand more notes and hope to share more at an upcoming Food for Thought lunch presentation. Hope to see you there.  Until then, Ad Age did a nice series on Green Marketing recently available here so check it out if you’re into it.  http://adage.com/greenmarketing08/

I’m the first to admit that I am not “green.”  With the recent Earth Day celebrations all around me, I have experienced many sheepish feelings this past week.  I like to drink soda that’s individually packaged in cans or plastic bottles, I like my plastic bags from the grocery store (I use them for other things around my house), and in general, I like being a consumer.  What’s so bad about the way I live? The answers are obvious, I know.

This week, our agency held a kick-off event for sustainability and is making a concerted effort to be more conscious about the waste we create. The L&S Green Committee is taking action around the building. Quoted from our internal blog site, “We encourage everyone to brainstorm about green ideas for L&S because we are not just going green for Earth Day. It takes time to adjust life-long habits, but sustaining our environment is worth the effort.”

Green water bottles, reusable shopping bags, notes and tips are posted in the bathroom and on the paper copiers - it’s everywhere.  So I’ve been thinking - this won’t be as hard as I thought.  I can make some small changes that can have a great impact. 

Here’s my green commitment:

• No more water from individual plastic water bottles while at work or home;
• For a majority of my groceries, I will use a reusable cloth bag;
• I will recycle white office paper;
• And the most difficult one for me - I will not print documents only to make reading easier.

The last one is hard, I am a researcher after all. I have a tendency to print, read, and then toss, instead of just reading from my screen. 

So this is my commitment. What are your ideas and suggestions to make this a better world, or even just a better community?  Join me in my personal green evolution.

Gaily going green,

Billie Jo